


Dark Creatures

by Sheepie



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Anal Gaping, Graphic Violence, M/M, Porn With Plot, Prostate Milking, Rogue Agents, Smut, Tentacle Porn, Torture, Xenophilia, monster!harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-11-10 00:17:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11115912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheepie/pseuds/Sheepie
Summary: Harry was presumed dead, and for six months Eggsy lived with this reality. And then a distress signal was sent out from his glasses and Eggsy tracked him to the base of a terrorist organization known as KITE. The worst he thought he'd fine was Harry tortured but alive. What he hadn't expected was to find his lover no longer human.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I started this. But I just needed to. So I did.  
> My smut holds no shame.  
> Self-betaed

            “You’re positive he’s here?” Eggsy asked, only briefly pausing in the dreary hallway as he gathered his bearings.

He was deep underground, the only light coming from the florescent overheads. The air was colder and damper, leeched of life and warmth, and the bare gray concrete walls left Eggsy claustrophobic. It was a coffin down here.

“Aye,” Merlin confirmed into his ear. “Our data shows that KITE has been keeping him locked down here.”

“Christ,” Eggsy murmured, not for the first time. He still couldn’t believe that Harry could be alive. It had been six months since V-Day, six months since Eggsy had last seen his mentor and lover.

No one knew the depth of Eggsy’s emotions for Harry. They all assumed he simply mourned another forsaken father figure. The only one that knew the truth was Roxy, and that had been because Eggsy had gotten drunk one night and cried himself sick on her shoulder, blubbering about losing Harry.

Their love had been delicate and new, a fawn learning to walk. It hadn’t gotten a chance to grow and develop into something real and grand, but the potential had been there.

Now Harry was alive—or presumed alive—and Eggsy’s heart raced at the thought of having him back, at showing Harry all he’d achieved, how he hadn’t disappointed him.

KITE, an underground group bent on world dominance (because they were _all_ bent on world dominance), was known for their extreme measures. They made Valentine look like a schoolyard bully.

Eggsy hoped they weren’t too late.

Six months was a long time to be in the hands of the terrorist organization.

***

As soon as the bartender hit the ground with a heavy thump, Harry returned to his seat. Eggsy stared in amazement as Harry picked up his Guinness and drained the rest of the beer. A ring of foam slid down the glass when he set it down.

Everything moved in a bit of a haze, Eggsy’s mind still rearing from the elegantly violent tango Harry had just danced. Eggsy saw his lips move, and somewhere in the back of his mind his brain processed what he was saying—the word sorry came distantly, above the water—but Eggsy didn’t hear any of it. Instead he noted how Harry’s hair remained in place, how the muted light streaming in through the window caught copper and silver threads interwoven.

Then Harry aimed his watch at Eggsy and the world snapped into place.

Eggsy threw his hands up in surrender and cried, “Wait! I won’t talk, swear down I won’t. I don’t grass on no one.”

Harry narrowed his eyes, and while part of Eggsy quaked with fear at the idea of being darted and left to wake up with Poodle and Rot, another part of him salivated at being the sole focus of Harry’s attention.

“You swear?” Harry pressed.

“Swear down,” Eggsy repeated, as earnestly as he could.

Harry clamped his hand on Eggsy’s shoulder and said, “There’s a good lad.”

And oh, if that didn’t make something deep within Eggsy shiver. Harry turned and started for the door, and the fear that this could be it, that Eggsy would never get a chance to see him again, set something off in him.

So Eggsy stood from his seat, his mind dizzy and lost, his body moving on its own accord, and raced for Harry.

“Harry, wait,” Eggsy called, reaching him at the doors. He took him by the wrist and Harry turned, having just finished unlocking the doors.

Eggsy pulled him down, not allowing himself a moment’s pause to truly consider what he was doing, and kissed Harry.

Harry froze, and for the briefest of seconds Eggsy panicked that he made a mistake, but then an arm looped around his waist like a steel band and dragged him close. His lips were soft and tasted of beer. Eggsy went to chase after the flavor, but Harry pulled away.

“Right,” Harry murmured, and to Eggsy’s delight he looked undone and off kilter.

“Just thought I should give you a proper thank you,” Eggsy said with a small smile.

Harry blinked, the corner of his mouth twitching. He nodded and said, “Goodbye Eggsy.”

“Goodbye Harry.”

***

“To your left,” Merlin instructed. Eggsy followed his commands, minding the corner as he rounded it.

There wasn’t anyone in the halls—not a single guard or KITE member. The absence of people raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

“Merlin, where is everyone?” The place should be crawling with KITE members, but it was as silent as a tomb.

The distress signal came in three weeks ago and they scrambled to gather intel. Strangely enough, it had been Harry’s glasses that had alerted him of his presence. After confirming the location, they sent an intel team out to monitor the area. It was only when they had solid proof of Harry’s survival, did Arthur approve Eggsy to go out and retrieve the former Galahad.

“Hold on,” Merlin said. Eggsy stalled at another corner, glancing around. There was only one room at the end of the hall, and it was heavily locked with what looked like a retinal scanner and a keypad. After a few minutes, Merlin said, “There isn’t anyone on the cameras.”

“Don’t that seem fishy?” Eggsy asked. He immediately regretted saying it, realizing that Merlin may pull the plug on the mission.

His fingers twitched. Harry was behind that door. He only had to go a little further and he could have him back.

“This may be a trap lad. We need to get ye out of there and rethink this,” Merlin said.

Eggsy’s heart dropped. “Merlin, he’s right there.”

“And I can’t see what’s behind that door. For all we know all of KITE is waiting for ye. Ye need to retreat, Galahad.”

“Let me just look,” Eggsy said, already creeping around the corner.

“Galahad, that’s an order.”

“Merlin, _please_ ,” Eggsy whispered. “What if he’s there? What if he’s waiting on us? Don’t you want to see him again?”

“Of course I do,” Merlin snapped. “But I won’t risk your life on the possibility that he’s there.”

Eggsy hesitated in the middle of the hall. Merlin was right. The risk was too high. But Eggsy also knew that sometimes risks were necessary.

“Give me five minutes,” Eggsy said. “If I don’t find anything, I’ll return to the extraction point.”

Merlin didn’t say anything and Eggsy’s heart thundered in the static. Finally, Merlin heaved a sigh and said, “Five minutes.”

“You’re aces Merlin,” Eggsy said and jogged over to the door. “Lock?”

“One second,” Merlin grumbled.

A serious of confirmation beeps and a red light flicking green confirmed the door unlocking. It slid open with a hiss. Eggsy kept his back against the wall to the side, waiting a few seconds in case a barrage of gunfire reigned down. When nothing happened, he peeked around into the laboratory.

It was empty.

Eggsy slipped in and the door slammed closed behind him.  He spun around, heart stopped.

* * *

            During the water test, Harry had found Eggsy to congratulate him on a job well done. Maybe it was the adrenaline still racing through his veins, or maybe it was the residual guilt at seeing Amelia’s lifeless body, but Eggsy had wanted to lose himself in something, and that something just happened to be Harry.

            So, he dropped to his knees in front of Harry and showed him just how grateful he was for the opportunity.

            Harry hadn’t resisted. He’d in fact grabbed the back of Eggsy’s head and fucked his mouth with his fat cock.

            And thus, a tradition was born, one that lasted until Harry landed himself in ICU. Eggsy spent every opportunity he could in Harry’s room. He snuck down during free time and studied out loud to Harry, JB curled at his feet. Sometimes, when Charlie had been particularly bad and Eggsy knew if he got one more sideways look from the weaseled face tosser he’d break his smarmy nose, Eggsy would go to Harry and vent. Sometimes Eggsy would just go down to groom Harry, shaving his face and helping with his exercises so his legs and arms didn’t atrophy.

            Eggsy didn’t know when it happened, but the idealism and heroism that Eggsy felt for Harry shifted and soon Eggsy found himself falling for the man in the bed.

            He didn’t know what would happen when Harry woke, if things would go back to how they were or if Harry would cast him off, but Eggsy took every moment he could with Harry.

            Then he woke. His hair was longer, his face freshly shaven, and he smiled at Eggsy with familiar fondness.

            After Merlin left, Eggsy sunk to his knees in front of Harry and welcomed him back with a long, languid blow job. Harry curled his fingers in Eggsy’s short strands and pulled him close.

            Eggsy savored the salty taste of Harry’s cock on his tongue. He’d missed it. Missed the weight and missed the smell. He’d missed everything.

            “I’ve missed you darling boy,” Harry said, and Eggsy moaned.

            This was where he belonged, he knew it deep down.

* * *

“What is going on Merlin?” Eggsy asked, shoulders tense. He withdrew his gun, finger resting near the trigger but not on it. When Merlin didn’t answer, Eggsy called, “Merlin?”

Nothing.

“Fuck,” He whispered and turned back to the door. He hit the switch beside it, but the door didn’t open. “Fucking fuck.”

Eggsy turned back around and finally took in the lab. There was an empty examination table, complete with metal cuffs, in the center. He didn’t know what half the blinking equipment was for, most likely just high-tech computers that would probably have Merlin creaming his pants.

            It was cold. Colder than the hall. Eggsy’s breath escaped in white clouds that dissipated towards the ceiling. He moved around the cavernous room, which had seemed small at first glance, but the deeper Eggsy went, the larger he realized it was. There were giant chambers filled with bubbling water, that looked big enough to contain a human man, but were empty.

            Eggsy shuddered as he passed the tubes.

            Had Harry been forced in one of those?

            He stopped at one of the computers and tried to see if he could pull up some information, but he couldn’t log in, and without Merlin to override the system, Eggsy was helpless. He decided to leave it alone for now and find an alternative exit.

            The hairs on the back of his neck stood again, prickling across his skin. It was the uncanny sensation of being watched. He felt like a gazelle grazing in the savannah, occasionally glancing up because he _knew_ the lion was out there, but he couldn’t see him.

            Eggsy approached one of the tubes and pressed his hand to it. It was icy and he jerked his hand back.

            The overwhelming sensation of someone standing behind him rose up his back. He spun around, gun aimed at head level.

            Eggsy froze, heart in his throat. Standing—if standing was the correct word for it— only a few meters away was… _something_. It had Harry’s face, his broad shoulders and narrow waist, but it couldn’t have been Harry.

            He was barely corporal, a gassy black figure that swayed in front of Eggsy. His lower half was a writhing, twitching mass of what Eggsy could only describe as oily black tentacles. From waist up he was naked, his skin ghostly pale. One eye, Eggsy noted, was missing, just black void, but the other was there, that shade of perfectly steeped tea swirled with honey, that had always hypnotized Eggsy.

            His face was Harry’s, but it wasn’t. Not really. It was scarred and rotted, like he’d been found too late, and then resurrected.

            Strangely, out of everything, his hair was the most normal. Still styled in that side sweep that tamed unruly curls and kept his bangs out of his eyes.

            “H-Harry?” Eggsy whispered, slowly lowering the gun.

            Harry stared at him, wisps of smoke pouring from the mass of tentacles that acted as his lower half.

            Eggsy was torn between racing to Harry and fleeing.

            “Harry, y-you’re alive,” Eggsy said, finally pointing his gun on the ground, safety back on. “We thought you were dead—we got the distress signal. What’s going on? What _happened_ to you?”

            “A metamorphosis,” Harry said, his voice so much lower and gravely than Eggsy remembered. It was rough, stripped of its refinery, and replaced with a smoky cadence that curled in the pit of Eggsy’s belly. “They found me, when _you_ never came, and they remade me.”

            Eggsy swallowed, guilt seeping into pores. He wanted to come. He wanted to race to Harry as soon as he hit the asphalt outside that church in Kentucky. But the world needed saving, and Eggsy had to hope that the local authorities reached Harry in time.

            After it was all over, Merlin had looked for Harry. He’d reached out to Statesman to see if they had heard anything. He’d combed through all Kentucky hospital records. But nothing had shown up. Merlin had even put a flag on all major airports in case Harry tried to sneak back into London.

            “We looked,” Eggsy said. “We tried to find you—but it was like you vanished. Christ, Harry. I missed you.”

            Harry tipped his head to the side, and the warmth that had once shown through, wasn’t there anymore. There was an emptiness there. Everything that made him Harry, had vanished.

            “Did you?” Harry moved closer, and Eggsy couldn’t help but take a step back. “It took until I sent out the signal for you to come, and even then, you waited.”

            “What happened? What did KITE do to you?”

            “They made me a monster,” Harry hissed. “You left me to them, and they turned me into _this_.”

            Eggsy sucked in a shaky breath. Harry continued to inch closer, and Eggsy continued to step back, until his finally his back hit the hard surface of the containment tubes and an icy shock shot up his spine.

            “I didn’t stop looking,” Eggsy said. “But we had to put the world back together, and—I still looked, even during the missions. Every time I went out, I looked for a sign of you.”

            Harry hesitated, a flicker of his former self fleeting across his single good eye. It vanished in a blink, replaced with the molten anger that seethed from him.

            “Then why didn’t you find me?”

            “How could I?” Eggsy finally snapped. Even with fear spreading through him, he couldn’t stand there and let Harry accuse him of just abandoning him. Eggsy hadn’t given up once. Even after Arthur had proclaimed Harry dead and the search over. He’d never give up on Harry. He would spend the rest of his life searching, until he either found Harry alive, or could bring back his dead body. “The world is shite! Kingsman is barely keeping it together. We haven’t been able to retrain anyone, so I’ve been on mission after mission!”

            Harry jerked back, like he was surprised by Eggsy’s tone.

            “But every free moment I had, I spent it looking for you! How was I to guess that KITE had you? I didn’t even know about them—they’ve been so far under the radar. But as soon as we got the signal, we came!”

            Harry hovered there, the smoke pouring over Eggsy. It was cool, but not unpleasant. Eggsy put his gun away and, after a moment’s hesitation, reached up to set his hand on Harry’s face. Even though he seemed almost translucent, he was solid against Eggsy’s palm. Eggsy brushed his thumb along his cheek bone, just above where the skin was split into sinewy strands, revealing teeth and jaw.

            “I’m sorry it took so long for me to come,” Eggsy whispered, “But I’m here now, luv. I never forgot about you.”

            The final traces of fear that had clung to Eggsy vanished. Harry’s ghostly form grew clearer, until the translucency was gone and he was a solid figure. The tentacles vanished, replaced with normal human legs. The disfigurements in his face remained, along with the ghostly void of his left eye, but otherwise he was Eggsy’s Harry again.

            “My darling boy,” Harry murmured, the roughness of his voice gone.

            Eggsy nearly sobbed at the sight of him and threw his arms around Harry’s neck. He kissed Harry without reservation, tangling his fingers into his hair to draw Harry close. There was a frigidness to Harry’s lips, and the brush of his tongue made Eggsy’s jump, but he never broke away. Even when he dragged his hands around to cup Harry’s face and he was met with the strange feelings of absent flesh, he continued to kiss Harry.

            This was his Harry.

            Whatever form he came in, Eggsy would take it.

***

            Eggsy languished across Harry’s bare chest, their skin flushed and sticky with sweat and semen. He twirled a finger around his pert nipple and pressed a kiss to his breastbone.

            “We going to go on missions together when I’m Lancelot?” Eggsy asked, trying to hide his grin.

            Charlie had finally choked and it was down to him and Roxy. While he didn’t want to see Roxy fail (she’d quickly become one of his best mates), he wasn’t willing to lose. Too much was at stake.

            “Possibly,” Harry said, playing with the baby strands of hair at the base of Eggsy’s neck. “It doesn’t happen often, but when a mission does call for it the most compatible agents are assigned together.”

            “And we already know how compatible we are.” Eggsy grinned at Harry. His heart hadn’t stopped racing since the night began. Did Harry feel it?

            “That we are, dearest,” Harry said. He drew his hand around to trail his fingers along Eggsy’s jaw. “You have surpassed all my expectations, and I am so immensely proud of you.”

            Eggsy ducked his head. “Yeah?”

            Harry crooked a finger under Eggsy’s chin and lifted his head, compelling Eggsy to look at him. “Yes, my love.”

            Eggsy froze, his breath caught in his throat. “What did you say?” He whispered, afraid if he spoke any louder it would wake him from the dream.

            Harry smiled and drew Eggsy close, until their mouths were hovering. “I love you Eggsy.”

            “Fuck,” Eggsy choked. “I love you too Harry.”

            Eggsy wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, practically curling his entire body around him as they kissed. They made love two more times that night, before finally falling into a deeply sated sleep.

***

            Strong arms locked around his waist, and it wasn’t until Eggsy was deep in the kiss that he realized there was something slipping along his thighs and across his shoulders. He drew back enough to take in a shuddering breath and looked down at the black tentacles stroking his thighs and arms.

            “Does it scare you?” Harry asked, not stopping, but slowing in his touches.

            It should, shouldn’t it? It should terrify him what Harry had become.

            He shook his head. “No.”

            Harry blinked at him, studying his face. “But I’m a monster—what they did—I’m _not human_ , not anymore. The man you knew, he isn’t here.”

            Eggsy held Harry’s face firmly between his hands. “You’re my Harry. You always will be.”

            One of the tentacles came up to stroke his face. It was slightly slimy in texture, and Eggsy had to resist a shudder, but he didn’t flinch away. He wanted to show Harry that he accepted him.

            “My sweet boy. After I was so cruel to you, you’re still so loyal,” Harry murmured.

            “We need to leave,” Eggsy said. “We need to get to the extraction point.”

            Merlin no doubt sent someone to retrieve Eggsy after the com went down.

            Harry shook his head and started to withdraw. “No, I can’t.”

            “Why not?”

            “Look at me!” Harry shouted, throwing his arms out. “Kingsman will take one look at me and lock me away. I won’t go back to being a caged animal.”

            Eggsy looked around. “Harry, where’s KITE? Why is this place empty?”

            “I took care of them,” Harry stated. “They were no longer of use to me.”

            “Took care of them?”

            “They’re dead.” He met Eggsy’s gaze.

            “Dead? You killed _all of them_?”

            “The members here, though KITE is vast. There will be others.”

            That didn’t reassure Eggsy in the slightest.

            What kind of power did Harry possess?

            He turned, his legs once more vanishing into a sea of tentacles, his body growing translucent. “You see, I am not a man, not human.”

            “Harry…” Eggsy swallowed. “You can’t stay here. Please, come back with me. That’s why I came here. That’s why you sent out the signal, wasn’t it? For us to find you and bring you home.”

            Harry kept his back to Eggsy.

***

            “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Eggsy whispered. His vision blurred. The butterflies and moths mounted on the bathroom wall looked like they were dancing. He scrubbed at his eyes with fists. “Fuck!”

            How did this happen?

            How did everything go so wrong, so fast?

            It was perfect only a few hours ago. Eggsy was on his way to becoming a Kingsman. He would get his mum and Daisy out from under Dean. And he and Harry would live happily ever after.

            He was finally going to get his fairytale.

            But then he ruined it, and now he was standing in Harry’s bathroom alone, his heart shattered at his feet.

            Eggsy should leave, but he knew as soon as the front door closed behind him, it would be the last time he walked through it.

            So Eggsy went upstairs to Harry’s bedroom. The sheets and pillows still smell like him. Like the love they made. Eggsy crawled under the blankets.

            He had to fix this.

            Somehow, some way.

            He couldn’t let Harry could.

            Eggsy fell asleep, cheeks damp with tears. He woke to his phone going off in his pocket. He groggily fished it out and lifted his head. The pillow was damp from where he’d cried into it and his head throbbed dully.

            He’d gotten a series of texts from Harry. He considered ignoring them, pretending that it was all just some nightmare. Maybe if he willed it hard enough, things would go back to the way it was before.

            He opened the text.

 

 **Harry:** I’m not ready to let you go, darling.

 **Harry:** I know we both said things we didn’t mean. I’m sorry for my harsh words, I was just upset and panicked.

 **Harry:** You know I love you, and I want to make this work.

 **Harry:** I’m heading to Kansas right now to deal with a mission, but when I get back will sort this out. We still have a future, my dearest.

 

            Eggsy clamped a hand over his mouth to muffle a relieved sob. He shakily texted back a response.

 

 **Eggsy:** I’m sorry too. I don’t know what I was thinking. I panicked, and I know I screwed up. I don’t want to disappoint you Harry. But I couldn’t hurt JB. It be like hurting you. I love you so much. Please come back safely.

***

            “If I go back, I’ll become another experiment,” Harry said.

            Eggsy knew there was truth to his words. Whatever Harry was, he wasn’t human, and Kingsman would be interested in uncovering how he managed to stay alive.

            But Eggsy wasn’t about to let that happen.

            “I’ll protect you,” Eggsy said. “Like you protected me. It’s my turn to take care of you, Harry.”

            Harry chuckled, the sound a strange echo of his rougher voice and his original one. “And how do you plan to do that, darling?”

            “You can…” He searched for the right words. “You can make the tentacles go away, right?”

            Harry transformed once again, standing as a naked man before Eggsy. He kept his back to him, allowing Eggsy to see not only his supple behind (oh how Eggsy had missed it), but also his scarred back.

            “We put an eyepatch over your eye, get you some clothes, and go back. It’ll be that easy.”

            “Nothing is ever that easy.”

            No, it wasn’t.

            “Merlin will want to run tests, to check vitals. They’ll find out I have no heartbeat; they’ll see how cold my body is. It won’t take long for them to realize I am as alive as I am dead.”

            He was right. They’d want to keep Harry overnight, likely for a few days, to make sure he was okay. They’d question him, and while Eggsy didn’t doubt Harry could lie, they’d still be able to sniff out something off. Merlin had a nearly preternatural ability to find the truth. And the new Arthur was a no-nonsense woman. She’d have Harry quarantined for days before she even considered letting Harry out and home.

            And when they learned that Harry single-handedly dismantled the KITE base? They’d want to know how.

            “What then?” Eggsy asked. “Why’d you send the signal if you didn’t want to come back?”

            “To see you,” Harry whispered. “At least, one last time.”

            Tears swelled in Eggsy’s throat.

            No, he refused to let this be it. He refused to finally find Harry and then have him taken away.

            “This isn’t it Harry,” Eggsy said. “I’m not walking away from you.”

***

            The red robe was plush and kept him warm. The bed room was dark, spare for the glow of the computer screen. Eggsy laid curled on the bed, a bottle of scotch clutched in his hands. The footage was of one of Harry’s missions from before he met Eggsy.

            He couldn’t see Harry’s face because the feed was through his glasses, but he could still hear his voice as he seduced an heiress whose husband had connections to the Russian mafia.

            Harry spoke in that familiar refined timber, as smooth as the scotch Eggsy guzzled. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend it was him Harry whispered sweet nothings too. If he thought hard enough, he could almost feel Harry’s hands on him, caressing him.

            Tears burned behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes and wiped them away. JB snuffled against him, but Eggsy ignored him and replayed the footage.

            If he kept playing it, if he kept pretending Harry was there, then he couldn’t be dead. Wasn’t that how it worked? If you remembered them, they didn’t die? Maybe Harry would come back.

            When the news came that they would stop their search, Eggsy had collapsed. He knew that Merlin wouldn’t let it go, Harry was his best friend after all, but for all official purposes, Harry was pronounced dead.

            And Eggsy wasn’t ready to let go.

* **

            Kingsman gave Eggsy a lot of opportunities. It enabled Eggsy to save his mum and sister from Dean. It introduced him to Merlin and Roxy, two people who had become very dear to him. It had given him a set of deadly skills and the opportunity to better himself. And most of all, it had given him Harry.

            Out of all those things, there was only one Eggsy wasn’t willing to give up.

            As much as he loved his family and friends, he knew that walking away from Harry would be the one thing he’d never recover from.

            And he couldn’t just let Harry become some science experiment, picked and prodded at, eventually turned into a weapon.

            No, he had to protect Harry.

            So, they faked his death. They rigged the lab to self-detonate and they left his glasses behind. Kingsman would mark him as dead in the line of action. His mum and Daisy would mourn, but they would be taken care of, Merlin would see to it. Eggsy trusted him and Roxy to watch after them, to see that they didn’t suffer too much. JB would go Daisy, and they would eventually move on.

            It would take time, but they would heal.

            And Eggsy would watch over from a distance, doing what he could from the shadows.

            But now, now Eggsy and Harry could vanish into the night.

            They left the KITE base in a smoldering, imploded heap and traveled south to France, where they stayed for a few weeks, then to eastern Germany, down to Greece, and finally back north near Amsterdam.

            They jumped around, not remaining in one location for more than a few weeks, making sure there wasn’t a trail for Kingsman or anyone to trace.

            Two months after Eggsy’s death, they finally made their way to India, where they settled in Mumbai.

            They settled into a life of bliss. Eggsy knew it wouldn’t last forever, that this bubble surrounding them would eventually pop, and their carefully protected world would once more sink into the depths of mayhem, but until then? Until then he enjoyed this capsulated life, basking in tropical weather, rich foods, the slow simplicity of waking up when he wanted. They lived in domestication, while Harry learned the extent of his abilities and Eggsy worked on establishing new aliases for them.

            Some nights Harry woke from nightmares and Eggsy had to comfort him. Other nights Eggsy woke in terror, reliving Harry’s death or his confrontation with Gazelle. Harry would wrap all his limbs, arms and tentacles, around Eggsy and cradle him close.

            Eggsy looked in on his mum and Daisy, made sure they were doing all right, and he kept his ear close to the ground for word on Kingsman, but otherwise they lived a life of happiness.

            It was more happiness than Eggsy ever thought he could have.


	2. The Shadows We Become

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Eggsy uncover a possible way to reverse Harry's condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Self-betaed.
> 
> Tentacle porn warning kicks in here.

            Yuri hated working here. He hated how the air was always cold, even when all the heaters were turned on, and that the rattling pipes echoing down the stone halls sounded like banshees howling. The ever-present chill seeped past the layers of his coat and uniform and settled deep into his bones, causing them to creak along with the pipes. It was likely an effect from the mountainous environment, but he also believed that there was something else lingering within the abandoned military base.

            It was what they got for turning a former Cold War facility into their headquarters. Honestly, he didn’t know why he was here. He didn’t even like his boss.

            The money was good, though, and considering that there was no work at home and he had mouths to feed, he sucked it up and made his rounds. But he did it with silent protest and the creeping sensation that _something_ was watching him.

            Yuri adjusted his hold on his M16 and headed towards the northern side of the base. Dampness penetrated past the thick stone walls, yet there was a dryness to the air, leaving his nose sore and cracked. He sniffed and pulled the scarf around his neck higher, shielding his mouth and nose.

            Pytor and Mikhail stood guard at the door, their guns propped against the wall next to them. Yuri signaled his arrival and called, “ _I’m here to relieve you Mikhail._ ”

            “ _About time, where the fuck have you been?_ ” Mikhail asked as he picked up his gun.

            Yuri wasn’t about to admit he’d gotten locked in one of the supply closets again. This would be the third time it’s happened. But the locks on these old doors were finicky, and the cold caused the metal to expand.

            “ _Zolotaryov needed to speak with me,_ ” He lied.

            Mikhail grunted and left, grumbling under his breath. Yuri took his place and nodded to Pytor. Pytor huffed and turned his back to Yuri.

            Yuri sighed and slipped his gun off, setting it against the wall just as Mikhail had done. He clapped his hands together to warm them and looked around the dimly lit space. Down the hall, a light flickered and buzzed, briefly engulfing the passage in inky darkness. Yuri frowned and looked around the cavernous space.

            There wasn’t anywhere to hide. It was all stone and steel, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that eyes were tracking him.

            Pytor pulled a flask from out of his jacket and unscrewed the cap. Yuri held out a hand after Pytor took a swig.

            “ _Give that here._ ”

            “ _Get your own._ ”

            “ _I left mine in my room. Let me have some._ ”

            “ _Fuck off._ ”

            Yuri scowled and dropped his hand. Pytor could be such an ass sometimes. He sighed and turned away. The shadows shifted and expanded, flickering like they were stalking. A prickling sensation crept up his spine, standing the hairs on the back of his neck. Yuri lifted his gun and slipped the strap on. It gave little comfort, but even a little was better than the hopelessness consuming him.

            He kept watch of the shadows, but eventually his vision began to glaze over. He slumped against the wall, his exhaustion tripled by the cold. He glanced back to the hall with a flickering light, and he swore there was something growing from the darkness. A figure outlined by a phosphorous black rose like a wraith, but then when the light flickered on, the figure was gone.

            Yuri knuckled his right eye and looked away. It was just his mind playing tricks on him.

            Sure, Aleksandrovsk had mentioned that the base was formally used for experiments during the Cold War to see the power of radium. And sure, there was some medical instruments and entire rooms that made it appear as an abandoned research facility. But that didn’t mean anything. It was just an urban legend.

            Why would they make HQ out of a mad scientist’s lab? Then again, Yuri was starting to suspect that some of the doctors in the organization weren’t all there in the head. He didn’t know fully what they were doing here (beyond being told that it was for the security of Mother Russia), and now he was kind of scared to find out.

            “ _Pytor_ ,” Yuri said and nudged him. “ _Do you see that?_ ”

            Pytor looked to where Yuri pointed, but the shadowy figure vanished in a flash of temporary buzzing light.

            “ _You’re seeing things_ ,” Pytor said and turned away again.

            Yuri glared at his back and returned to watching the shadows. The light went out and Yuri jumped. There was a figure there. He thought. Maybe. He scrubbed at his eyes and turned away.

            Maybe his wife was right, maybe he should look at a new job. At least then he wouldn’t have to be gone for so long.

            A sharp thud, like bone cracking against stone, echoed behind him. Yuri turned around and a sharp pain split through his skull before everything went black.

****

            Yuri woke to the biggest headache splitting his skull. How much had he drank? Did he drink? He didn’t recall having any vodka, but then again, why else would it feel like someone took a sledgehammer to the top of his head? He pressed his hand against the rough floor and forced his eyes open. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut again, hissing at the light that blinded him.

            Eyes still closed, Yuri pushed himself up into a sitting position and spat on the floor. A coppery taste flooded his mouth and he probed at a cut on the inside of his cheek with his tongue.

            “ _Fuck_.”

            What happened?

            Yuri cautiously opened his eyes again and looked around the room, slowly getting his bearings. When his gaze landed on Pytor, he twisted around and vomited what little he had for breakfast that morning. His head was split open like a rotten melon, pulpy brain spilling out in a fetid mess that was splattered abstractly on the wall Pytor was slumped against.

            Yuri continued to heave, even after the last of his stomach contents had been purged. His throat burned with acid and his eyes watered from a mixture of vomiting and the stench of shit and blood.

            He grabbed his gun with trembling fingers and struggled to his feet, woozy from the combination of getting sick and his headache. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked around the room. There wasn’t anything there, but it didn’t ease Yuri’s nerves.

            He raised his gun and made his way down the hall. The flickering light made it hard to focus, but he kept his gaze fixed on the point in front of him. Other than the creaking pipes, there wasn’t any noise. Not the sound of the guards’ boots on the stone floor. Not the dull white noise of chatter. Not even the sound of a gun fight. Nothing.

            Yuri inched around a corner and came to a stop. A streak of blood ran along the side of the wall.

            His first thought was to run and hide, but he clamped down on his flight instinct and followed the blood trail. It eventually led him to a hallway of bodies, all of them decimated into a pulpy mess.

            Yuri braced an arm against the wall and hunched over, dry heaving. A tremor ran through him and he tightened his grip on his gun to keep a hold of it.

            What was going on?

            When his stomach settled, he picked his way past the bodies littering the floor. He hesitated in front of Mikhail, who stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, his body twisted into a mangled position.

            The carnage lead a bread crumb trail to one of the labs. Yuri took a keycard off the dead scientist and unlocked the door. He slowly opened the door, not surprised to see more of the gore painting the room. Even though he’d expected it, it didn’t make it any easier, and his stomach fluttered nauseously. He raised his scarf to shield his nose and mouth from the putrid smells and crept into the room. The door slid closed behind him.

            One of the computers beeped continuously, and from somewhere there was a bubbling sound. He’d never been in the room, though he knew it existed. He just hadn’t known what laid beyond the steel doors.

            “I’m almost done over here,” Someone said in English. They sounded British. Yuri spoke a bit of English, but it was spotty. He moved to a large containment chamber and hid behind it. He pressed close to the freezing glass and listened.

            “I’m setting the charges now,” Another person said, his voice strange. It held the faintest British accent, but there was a haunting, gravely cadence to it, and it left Yuri trembling.

            “Okay, everything is downloaded. We’re good here.” There was a pause, and then, “Babe come here. Look at this.”

            Yuri inched around the tube to try and get a peak of the people, but all he caught was a black mist and what… were those tentacles? No, it couldn’t be.

            He straightened, hiding back behind the chamber. Something caught his eye and he finally looked up at the tube.

            There was a person in there. They were naked, the top half of their body human and flawless, but the lower part? It was a mass of floating tentacles.

            Yuri stumbled back and crashed into a machine with a clatter. “ _Fuck_.”

            He came around the tube. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get back to the northern door. He needed to get home.

            Yuri raced for the door. It got closer, and he could almost reach it. Then something slammed into him and his head cracked against the floor. His vision briefly flooded with darkness.

            When he opened his eyes, a writhing mass of tentacles and gas hovered near him. He looked up the length of the tentacles, following them to a narrow waist, a disfigured chest, and up to a face that was rotted out, yet so human. One golden eye watched him, the other a black void that bore into Yuri’s soul.

            Yuri reached for his gun but it was gone. He tried to rise, but as he started to push himself up, a heavy boot came down on the side of his head and pinned him to the ground. Another person leaned into his vision, blocking his view of the monster.

            “Sorry bruv,” The person said. Yuri wasn’t sure what he meant by bruv, but he knew ‘sorry’, and the hopelessness returned. No, he needed to get home. He needed to get back to Maria. To Anya.

            Yuri didn’t know what was worse, the monster, or the angel face that looked down at him with certain death. “You shouldn’t have come in here. Now we can’t let you leave,” the angel said, only half his words processing in Yuri’s mind.

            _Shouldn’t. Come here. Can’t leave_.

            And that was Yuri’s mistake, wasn’t it? He shouldn’t have left his spot. He shouldn’t have been there. He was always in places he shouldn’t be. Always getting trapped somewhere. Only, this time Yuri wasn’t going to eventually get out.

            A gun slipped in front of him, and all he could see was the end of a barrel.

            “I’m really sorry about this bruv, but I have to protect Harry,” the angel said.

            Yuri heard a thunder crack and then the darkness came.

****

            Sunlight warmed across Eggsy’s back and guided him into consciousness. The sheets were tangled down around his legs and waist, leaving his back exposed. He stretched one hand out blindly, spreading his fingers over the spot Harry usually occupied and coming up empty.

            It had been almost a month since the mission in the Ural Mountains. They’d spent the following three weeks after laying low, traveling around, before eventually coming home. The thumb drive was delivered to Merlin for reviewing, and now Harry and Eggsy could lounge at home while they waited.

It had come as a surprise when Merlin had contacted them, three months after Eggsy’s death, though really Eggsy supposed he should have known they couldn’t pull the wool over Merlin’s eyes. The man was a bloodhound for sussing out the truth, and he always knew what happened to his agents.

When he contacted them, Eggsy had come clean about Harry’s state. He’d been nervous to reveal the truth, but something told him that Merlin could be trusted. They’d saved the world together, after all.

Merlin, while shocked at Harry’s physically appearance, had accepted the state of his best friend and agreed to provide his services and keep their secret. Now, almost a year since their disappearance, they were on their way to tracking down KITE and a possible way to reverse whatever had been done to Harry.

With Merlin’s help, they’d managed to take down two smaller bases, and dismantle multiple branches of the organization—the most recent being in the Ural Mountains. While not directly part of KITE, the organization Red Order had been working with the terrorist group.

The door opened, but Eggsy still didn’t bother opening his eyes. He sighed contently as the bed dipped. A breeze blew in through the open window, carrying the aromatic scent of mangos and roasted meats.

Below their flat, they could hear cars and people heading to market. Mumbai was bubbling with life and energy, and Eggsy _loved it_.

A cold tentacle slid up Eggsy’s calf. The sheets drew down, pooling at the back of his knees, before coming completely off. More tentacles secured around his waist and stroked up his back. In the beginning, the touch of tentacles had been alarming and always left Eggsy jumping, but now he’d grown accustomed to their strange smooth texture and the cold that carried with them. In fact, he’d grown to love their embrace, the security of their constriction coupled with Harry’s strong arms. They could create a cocoon around him, protecting him from the world.

“Time to wake, my love,” Harry whispered, leaning over Eggsy.

“Mmm, five more minutes,” Eggsy grumbled.

One tentacle stroked the globe of his arse cheek, toying with his crack. Eggsy moaned, and with the aid of the tentacles, lifted onto his knees.

“We have work to do,” Harry continued.

“Liar.” Eggsy huffingly laughed. “We’ve got nothing until Merlin contacts us. So, we can just laze in bed.”

“Chores to be done then,” Harry amended with a chuckle and nuzzled the side of Eggsy’s head. The tentacle rubbed between Eggsy’s crack, the tip circling his hole. Another appendage coiled around to his nipple and teased it into hardness.

Eggsy moaned and rocked back against Harry. His cock thickened, aided by one of Harry’s appendages. Strong hands cupped his waist. Eggsy finally opened his eyes and turned his head to sloppily kiss Harry.

“How about we stay here? Bet there’s a lot we could do to entertain ourselves,” Eggsy said.

Harry groaned and pressed against him, one of the tentacles probing his hole. “You dirty minx, aren’t you tired from last night? You’re still loose, you know. I doubt I’d even need to prep you.”

“Isn’t that how you like it?” Eggsy asked with a salacious grin. “Having me nice and open for you, gaping even—so you can fill me up with all of your tentacles whenever you want.”

Eggsy knew what it did to Harry when he addressed every part of him. When they first made love, it had been a bit of a shock to Eggsy to learn that Harry no longer had a fully functioning cock, even when he returned to his _human_ form. Due to the lack of blood circulating through his body, he couldn’t get hard.

Harry had been distraught and angry then, and Eggsy had feared he might do something stupid. But they worked through it, figured out a way for them both to get pleasure. While Harry no longer could get hard in the traditional sense, his tentacles were highly sensitive, and Eggsy had grown fond of them—especially their multitude.

Their slippery texture saved them on lube, too. So, bonus.

One of the tentacles slid up and coiled loosely around Eggsy’s neck, not constricting, but forming a comforting weight.

“Would you like that, my love? For me to stuff you full? To fill every part of you? What if I kept filling. We haven’t seen how far you can go, how much of me you can take. Shall I find out now?”

A shudder raced through Eggsy. “ _Fuck yeah_.”

God, he wanted it. Wanted all of Harry. The fact that Harry could surround him when they made love now, that he could literally fill every part of him, was amazing and intoxicating.

“Filthy creature,” Harry teased fondly. “As you wish, darling.”

The tentacle around his cock squeezed and stroked him, but then it slithered away, and Eggsy groaned. A tentacle slipped up to his mouth, probing at his lips. He opened wide and it slid in. They were larger than Harry’s cock. The smallest tentacles in circumference were about an inch round, while the largest ones were as thick as soda cans. The one penetrating his mouth was just slightly smaller than that, and it slipped deep, forcing Eggsy to deep throat him.

Harry moaned and fucked his mouth, while at the same time prying his legs apart and holding them firmly in place. Eggsy braced himself on his forearm and reached up with one hand to hold onto the tentacle, stroking what couldn’t slide into his mouth.

It wasn’t tangy and salty like a cock. There wasn’t much of a taste, really, but Eggsy gleefully sucked.

“Christ, that mouth of yours,” Harry mumbled. “The things I want to do to it.”

Eggsy groaned again in encouragement and wiggled his arse. Harry chuckled and gave it a slap.

“I have you darling, don’t worry,” Harry assured. The rough sound of his voice rolled over Eggsy.

Eggsy drew his head away, and Harry obliged by withdrawing his tentacle. Eggsy drew in a ragged breath and said, “I want to watch you.”

Harry paused, and Eggsy wondered if he’d be denied. Every now and then Harry had a bout of self-consciousness, not only for his lower extremities, but also for the disfigurements in his face and chest.

Harry carefully turned Eggsy over onto his back. He spread his legs again, using two tentacles for each leg to hold them open.

“Like this?” Harry asked.

Eggsy nodded and reached for the tentacle he’d been sucking. Harry happily fed it to him. They groaned in unison.

Harry wrapped one of his smaller tentacles around Eggsy’s dick and teased his tip, while using others to tease and pluck at his nipples. The first probing tentacle at his arsehole was slender, only an inch in diameter. He was still slightly loose from the night before, so Harry easily worked him open.

The feeling of the tentacle inside him wasn’t like a cock. It was oily and wiggly, able to move in a way a cock couldn’t. It reached and coiled deep inside Eggsy, as if seeking out his soul.

He shuddered, melting around it, and released a muffled moan of encouragement, pleading for more.

Harry obliged, sliding in another, both moving in opposite directions. He fucked them into Eggsy, and Eggsy happily took all that Harry gave. He breathed harshly through his nose, choking and sucking on the tentacle down his throat.

There was a rushing release of endorphins, and his eyes rolled backwards as the tentacles took turns probing at his prostate.

“You delightful thing, you take me so well,” Harry said, giving Eggsy’s cock another stroke. “You love this, don’t you? You would spend your days letting me use you, keeping you as my personal toy.”

Eggsy nodded his head the best he could. He would. He would give anything to Harry, all he needed to do was ask.

Harry withdrew his tentacle from Eggsy’s mouth and swooped down to kiss him, smothering his body with his own. Eggsy tangled his hands in Harry’s hair, holding him in place as they kissed.

Another tentacle joined the two fucking him, this one three inches wide. Eggsy cried out, spit smearing between their lips. The burn of the stretch was tempered by the pleasure of his cock being stroked.

Honestly, fucking into the comforting embrace of one of the tentacles was like fucking pussy. It was soft and wet and so warm, and Eggsy absolutely loved it.

Harry bit harshly at Eggsy’s bottom lip and slammed his tentacles deep into him. Eggsy swore he could feel them in his gut, they were so deep.

“Fuck,” Eggsy sobbed. “Harry, fuck. More. Give me more.”

Harry nipped at his jaw. “Whatever you want, my love.”

He slid another in. Eggsy was so wide. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted to gape from Harry’s tentacles. So, he pleaded, and Harry listened, fucking more in, until Eggsy was so wide it felt impossible. There were at least five or six tentacles of varying size in him, all wiggling and stroking.

He clung to Harry, unable to move beyond small undulations of his hips. Breathy sobs escaped him as he held tight, crying a litany. “Oh god, oh god, oh god.”

The tentacle around his cock increased its pace. Eggsy bit into Harry’s shoulder to muffle a scream building inside him.

“There’s so many,” He slurred. “Fuuuck.”

And then he was engulfed with an all-consuming pleasure, his body rippling with spasms. He howled in ecstasy, his mouth hanging open as Harry fucked into him, and alternatively jerked Eggsy off. Harry buried his face around Eggsy with his own orgasmic moan.

There wasn’t any cum that escaped Harry, but at the height of his pleasures, he secreted more fluid, and now Eggsy positively dripped with the sticky substance.

They slumped onto the bed, Harry still stuffing Eggsy. Eggsy’s legs ached from being held wide open, and his arsehole burned from the stretch, but small detonations still went off through his nervous system, leaving him pliant and blissful.

Harry slowly started to withdraw, taking one tentacle out at a time. When the last slipped out with a wet sound, Harry finally let go of Eggsy’s legs. Harry carefully rolled Eggsy over and stroked the tender flesh around Eggsy’s hole with his finger, smearing some of the fluid.

“You’re gaping,” Harry commented.

Eggsy nuzzled his pillow. “Mmm, all thanks to you.”

“Minx,” Harry chuckled. “I guess that mean’s it’s breakfast in bed then, hmm?”

“Well I sure as shite ain’t walking,” Eggsy huffed.

Harry kissed his shoulder. “Of course not dear.”

****

            “What are you doing?” Eggsy asked as he entered the small office adjacent to their bedroom.

Their flat in Mumbai was half the size of Harry’s old place in Stanhope Mews. They couldn’t channel Harry’s traditional interior design style, which Eggsy always described as a hoarding grandmother meets Antique Roadshow, due to the tight space of their home. Somehow, though, Harry found a way to fill the flat with touches of himself and Eggsy. Small photos and clippings, brick-a-brack found down in the market, large comfy furniture that filled the space, and enough plants to make it feel like they lived in a jungle.

            “Merlin finished going through the data we sent him,” Harry said. “He sent over a copy of the reports.”

            “Was there anything on there about reversing the process? Or what they even did to you?” Eggsy asked, a small bubble of hope growing inside him.

            Harry didn’t know fully what had been done to him. There had been hours upon hours of painful experiments and tests, but for most of them Harry was either clinically dead or too out of it to retain any memory beyond the agony.

            It chilled Eggsy to think about what Harry had to suffer at the hands of KITE.

            “It seemed the Red Order was furthering KITE’s research. They’d begun to kidnap some of the revolutionists in Kiev and work on them. They were trying to perfect the transformative process, it seems.”

            “Did they find a way to reverse it?”

            “While they were working, it didn’t seem like they made it far. Merlin was able to retrieve some files exchanged with another branch though that may have more information.”

            It was a small hope.

“Merlin also said he was able to track down the location of one of the original doctors assigned to my project. A Dr. Eden Santiago.”

            Eggsy paused, his heart skipping a beat. “He did?”

            He couldn’t read Harry’s expression, and it wasn’t just because half his face had been eaten away by death.

            Harry nodded somberly, his hands clasped together on his desk. “He’s sent over the coordinates of the base they’re currently working in.”

            “When do we leave?”

            “I’m going to review the information tonight.”

Harry pushed away, turning in his chair to face Eggsy. He’d shifted to his human form and put on a suit, one that was reminiscent of the suit he wore when he first met Eggsy. Eggsy still wasn’t one hundred percent sure if Harry felt the tropical heat. If he did, he never said anything.

            Eggsy slid into his lap and loosely looped his arms around Harry’s neck. “Do you remember anything about this doctor?”

            Harry’s brows creased in concentration and Eggsy couldn’t help but press a gentle kiss where the skin wrinkled.

            “No,” Harry confessed. “There are pieces of memory, snapshots of people around me, and… pain… but… no, I don’t remember anything.”

            Eggsy gathered Harry’s face in his hands. “We’ll figure this out,” Eggsy said, stroking Harry’s jaw. The pad of his thumb ran along the torn, exposed edge of icy flesh that had rotted in his cheek.

            “And if we don’t?” Harry asked softly, searching Eggsy’s face. “And you’re condemned to a life with this monster?”

            “You’re not a monster,” Eggsy whispered and kissed Harry, trying to convey how little he cared about Harry’s physical appearance.

Harry’s arms slipped around Eggsy’s waist and hauled him closer. He could feel Harry’s fingers digging deep into the bone of his hips, like he was grasping for rope. Eggsy would be that life preserver.

Eggsy pulled back and pressed his forehead into Harry’s. “I love you, no matter what.”

“And I you, darling.”

* * * *

            The mission to retrieve Dr. Santiago went without a hitch, much like the Ural Mountain mission. Harry was a shadow, undetectable by heat sensors and other monitors that might be able to record a human, but couldn’t track the undead. Eggsy worked as support, staying back on the roofs to clear a path via snipping, and to double as quartermaster, unlocking doors when Harry needed it.

            There were no codenames. There was only them versus everyone else.

            After they secured Dr. Santiago and scrubbed the computers of any pertinent data, Harry destroyed the base and any research they’d completed, along with another line of monsters they’d been crafting.

            Harry wouldn’t see others face his same fate. Death was a mercy.

            They took Dr. Santiago to a secure location over the border to Bolivia. Once there, they locked him in an underground bunker without windows.

            He came to thrashing, his sinewy body a mess of twitching limbs. His arms were secured behind his back and his feet were anchored to the legs of the chair, but that didn’t prevent him from rearing his shoulders, arching his spine, and stabbing his sharp elbows out.

            Eggsy watched from the corner of the room, letting Harry lead the interrogation. Dr. Santiago blinked open his blood-shot eyes and looked around, his pupils dilated as he came down from the drug they injected into him. His long brown hair had begun to escape his ponytail like it was trying to flee, but it was as trapped as he was, matted by blood and sweat.

            Harry waited until Dr. Santiago was done coughing, and then made his presence known. “Do you know who I am?”

            Dr. Santiago looked up at Harry. The slow, sinking realization of who Harry was bloomed across Dr. Santiago’s face in a look of pure horror and fury.

            “You.” He seethed and tensed in his bonds. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

            “I am,” Harry assured and drew closer. Dr. Santiago pressed back against his chair, giving another tug at his restraints. “You made sure of that.”

            “What is this?” Dr. Santiago’s gaze jumped briefly to Eggsy. “What do you want?”

            Eggsy remained quiet. Harry slipped closer, until he towered over Dr. Santiago. He was in his human form, dressed finely in a three-piece bespoke suit of all black. The only chink his handsome visage were the ravaged portions of his face.

            “Answers,” Harry said. “And justice.”

            He laid a hand on Dr. Santiago’s shoulder and leaned over, coming close enough that their noses were merely centimeters apart. “You took _everything_ from me. You turned me into a _monster_.”

            “I gave you life. Without me you would be a rotting corpse in the ground,” Dr. Santiago shot back.

            “Instead I’m a walking rotting corpse.” Harry sneered. His fingers flexed and Dr. Santiago cried out, trying to twist out of Harry’s grip. “I would rather be dead than this… _thing_.”

            Eggsy’s stomach jumped and before he could stop himself, a startled sound escaped. Harry tensed but didn’t look backwards, didn’t acknowledge Eggsy. He couldn’t, not with Dr. Santiago in the room.

            Dr. Santiago looked past Harry’s shoulders to Eggsy once again, but this time he truly looked at him. His gaze lit up as if he were a child handed a magnifying glass and directed to an ant hill.

            “My, you’re a healthy specimen,” Dr. Santiago crooned delightfully.

            Harry grabbed him by the chin and jerked his head back, compelling Dr. Santiago to look at him. “Don’t look at him,” Harry growled, the sound reverberating through the room. Dr. Santiago paled. “You will not have him. Your experiments are over, doctor. I will take them apart, piece by piece, until there is nothing left. I will destroy everything you’ve worked towards.”

            “Do you truly think you can stop this? That I’m the only one? KITE’s reach stretches far beyond yours, we are infinite.”

            “No, you’re mortal,” Harry said. He let go of Dr. Santiago’s chin and took a step back. In a gaseous cloud and flickering shadow, his legs became replaced by the writhing entanglement of his tentacles.

            Dr. Santiago’s eyes widened. “Look at you,” he whispered. “You’re… magnificent.”

            “Tell me, how many more are there? How many more poor souls have you twisted?”

            “Twisted? We’ve reshaped life. We’ve erased God and found a way to put life into the hands of man.”

            “Why?” Eggsy asked, before he could stop himself. “Why would you do this? What could you possibly gain from it?”

            Dr. Santiago looked back at Eggsy, and Eggsy wished he hadn’t. His eyes unnerved him. They were beady and dark, reminding him of the rats that he’d sometimes find scurrying along the halls of his flat growing up.

            “Because man is weak and pathetic,” Dr. Santiago said. “What we’re doing is rebuilding him, making him stronger, erasing time.”

            “How do you reverse it?” Harry asked.

            “What?”

            “How. Do. You. Reverse it.” Harry loomed over him, expanding his presence with shadows.

            “You can’t,” Dr. Santiago said.

            “Liar. There were reports from the Ural base, a machine was being built,” Harry said, and while his tone remained as hard as steel, Eggsy could trace his desperation in the tension of his shoulders.

            Dr. Santiago broke out laughing. “A machine? No, there’s nothing. What you are is all you can be. Why would we reverse this?”

            “Darling,” Harry said.

            Eggsy straightened. “Yes?”

            “It’s time for you to leave,” Harry instructed.

            Eggsy swallowed and glanced at Dr. Santiago one last time. He nodded, and without word, left. Harry never liked him to stay during these parts of the interrogations. He didn’t want Eggsy to see what he was capable of. Eggsy supposed it had something to do with retaining his humanity, as if Eggsy ever doubted it was there.

            But Eggsy accepted all of Harry, what made him human, and what made him a monster.

            No sooner the door closed, a scream echoed behind it. Harry wouldn’t kill Dr. Santiago, at least not now. Not until he could what he needed.

            Eggsy left and went to look over the reports Merlin had sent back. Maybe he could find something there that they missed.

            They’d uncovered mentions of a machine being built that could ‘correct the side effects of the transformation’ in the notes retrieved from the mountain base. Eggsy didn’t know if it could truly reverse Harry’s condition. What little they retrieved on it didn’t give Eggsy hope, but Harry clung to even the smallest beam of light, hoping there was some way to change who he’d become.

            Eggsy fixed a cup of tea and sat down at a small, rickety desk that had been left in the abandoned building they were using. He pulled up the reports on the burner laptop they were using and scanned through them, mulling over the smallest shred of information.

            The reports had been received from another location, shared with the mountain base which had been experimenting further on the potential of the subjects sent to them. The only problem was, there wasn’t a way to find out which one of KITE’s many locations had sent the report.

             Eggsy sipped at his cooling tea, his shoulders starting to hurt as time stretched. He had distanced himself from the interrogation room, but even now he could hear the screams coming from Dr. Santiago. They were horrid, wretched noises, as if his soul were being scraped from his body with a dull butter knife.

            During his short stent with Kingsman, Eggsy had participated in one interrogation. It couldn’t have prepared him for this.

            Eventually he closed the laptop and shoved it aside, along with his half-finished tea. His head hurt and the screams were distracting. He went over to the dusty couch shoved haphazardly to one wall and collapsed on it, his back facing the entrance. He curled up and drifted off to sleep.

            He woke to a hand gently shaking him awake and Harry whispering in his ear, “Darling, time to get up.”

            Eggsy groaned and stretched out his stiff legs. He opened his eyes and rolled over onto his back, looking up at Harry, who had slipped back into his human form.

            “Is he?” He didn’t say dead.

            “Yes.”

            “Did you?”

            “He let slip about a base off the coast of Lativa,” Harry said.

            Eggsy nodded and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Harry’s hardened gaze softened and he took a seat next to Eggsy. Any traces of the torture he administered were washed away. Even Harry’s clothes were clean and fresh.

            “How do you feel?” Eggsy asked.

            “I should ask you the same.”

            “I’m not the one that faced one of my tormentors,” Eggsy said and took Harry’s hand. “That must have been a lot to handle.”

            “I suppose…” Harry murmured and stroked his thumb across Eggsy’s knuckles.

            Eggsy mulled over what to say, then broke the growing silence with a softly mumbled, “I don’t want you to be dead.”

            “We’ll change this,” Harry promised.

            Eggsy shook his head. “No, I don’t mean that. I mean… you said you wished you were truly dead, and… I don’t want that. I don’t want you dead Harry. I know it’s selfish, and it’s terrible of me, but I want you here with me, no matter what. I love you, all of you, any way you are.”

            “Eggsy… darling…” Harry turned so he faced Eggsy and took his face in both of his hands. “I’m sorry, that had been a cruel thing to say.”

            Eggsy didn’t even realize he’d begun to cry until Harry wiped away a tear. “I thought I lost you once,” Eggsy croaked. “I don’t want that to happen ever again.”

            “It won’t my love,” Harry said and kissed his forehead, his eyes, his cheeks, and finally his mouth. “I will never leave you again, I swear.”

            Eggsy threw his arms around Harry’s neck and buried his face against his chest. He knew Harry couldn’t keep that promise. They didn’t know what could happen the future. But he clung to the hope that somehow, they would survive all this, that they would get their happy ending.


End file.
